D&D 5E Monster tokens- my DM has a kickstarter

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Scorpio616

First Post

• Dec 23, 2014

• #11

Kinda interesting, but some things don't fill me with confidence about the company.

1. The company logo is quite close to WOTC's Tiamat design.

2. The company included the name of a closed content monster in its list of critters.

3. One of the monster token examples is a critter i don't think was released as open content.

4. Star Frontiers and Gamma World are games, not genres

5. The only Professor Fate I'm finding via google would still be under copyright.

 

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Croesus

Adventurer

• Dec 24, 2014

• #12

The Kickstarter says "That...being said these are all monsters from the OGL Monster Codex..." published by Paizo for Pathfinder. If true, I suspect they're not violating any WOTC copyrights.

 

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Paladin interrogator

First Post

• Dec 24, 2014

• #13

I'll send David the link to this thread so that he can answer these questions. I wouldn't know the answers to most of the questions other than that he is a smart guy that I would trust to follow through with any obligations.

 

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gamemash

Explorer

• Dec 24, 2014

• #14

Thanks for the feedback.

We certainly don't want to violate any copyright laws. We have been pretty thorough in our research of what is legal and what is not. We aren't here to replace miniatures in general. We still use them but we want to help those people that need 16 goblins to run an encounter and don't have access to 16 goblin miniatures. That having been said I have tried to answer each of your answers in order:

1. Pretty sure 5 headed dragons aren't in violation. If the colors are in violation we'll definitely hear about it.

2. We're certainly not going to create closed content monsters. We *are* going to create tokens that can be used in lieu of closed content monsters.

3. Which token are you referring to?

4. Thanks for the correction.

5. We're going to print "Steampunk" style villains. We removed Professor Fate. Thanks again.

If you see anything else let us know.

 

Last edited: Dec 24, 2014

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gamemash

Explorer

• Dec 24, 2014

• #15

painted_klown said:

I have to admit, these look really cool. Now for the question of the day. How are you guys going to be able to get around copyright issues?

Wouldn't these monsters be part of some protected likeness clause or something?

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We're only making monster tokens from the OGL or of our own invention.

 

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gamemash

Explorer

• Dec 24, 2014

• #16

rjfTrebor said:

these do look really amazing. though i wish they'd have come up with an 'empty' token that you could slide your own art into. i'd buy one or two dozen of those.

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We will definitely have blank tokens for dry erasing. We're looking into the "empty" token for custom art.

 

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gamemash

Explorer

• Dec 24, 2014

• #17

LabyrinthLord718 said:

I decided to back this one; I love tokens. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

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Thanks LabyrinthLord! We can't wait for you to see and use these tokens. We'll have a "Monster Stat Sheet" downloadable in PDF form after rewards start to ship.

 

Kryx

Explorer

• Dec 24, 2014

• #18

Any chance of releasing the images themselves? I'd love to use these on Roll20. You should add these to the marketplace there.

 

frankthedm

First Post

• Dec 25, 2014

• #19

Delete please wrong topic

 

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Scorpio616

First Post

• Dec 25, 2014

• #20

I am not a laywer, these are the opinions of a layman who, in his opinion, has seen too many kickstarters playing fast and loose with IP.

gamemash said:

1. Pretty sure 5 headed dragons aren't in violation. If the colors are in violation we'll definitely hear about it.

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Sigh...

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A five headed dragon is one thing. A five headed dragon with heads very similar in design to the WOTC Dragons, arranged in the same order as WOTC's Tiamat, looking like a specific piece of art and with the red body WOTC's Tiamat has officially adopted is another thing.

3. Which token are you referring to?

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That statement further adds to my concerns. The Bullywug. It got published by WOTC in the 3e Monsters of Fearun book, so it didn't get swept into the open gaming arena in the Tome of Horrors book. This is why Paizo calls one of their 'manphibians' the Boggard. BTW "Manphibian", also being used by somebody.

4. Thanks for the correction.

5. We're going to print "Steampunk" style villains. We removed Professor Fate. Thanks again.

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You are welcome, but 5 is an issue that should been noticed before launch!

If you see anything else let us know.

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You should probably run each monster name you use through google just to see how generic it is. I've never seen anyone but D&D use the name "Helmed Horror". The Drakes you have listed are the exact names of specific wotc monsters, though verb-drake itself might be considered generic if they don't happen to LOOK like one of wotc's versions.

 

Last edited: Dec 25, 2014